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House of Duras
The House of Duras was a noble house in the Klingon Empire which by 2366 had become highly influential in Klingon politics, so much so that its leader Duras (son of Ja'rod) was considered in 2367 for the position of Chancellor of the Klingon High Council. A forefather in this house was Duras, son of Toral. In 2153, he died in battle with ''Enterprise'' trying to capture Jonathan Archer at the edge of the Delphic Expanse. In the 24th century, Ja'rod of this house had betrayed his people to the Romulans, providing them with the codes to lower the defences protecting the Klingon colony on Khitomer. When evidence of this surfaced in 2366, then-Chancellor K'mpec sought to protect the Empire against a possible civil war by blaming Mogh, the father of Worf. Worf challenged this, but when he learned the truth he agreed to accept discommendation, for the good of the Empire. With the death of K'mpec in 2367, Ja'rod's son Duras sought the leadership of the council, standing against Gowron. When Worf discovered that his mate K'Ehleyr had been murdered by Duras, he immediately transported to Duras' ship and challenged him. Duras proved to be no match for Worf, and was killed, leaving House Duras without a leader as Duras had no legitimate heir, and Gowron free to take his place as Chancellor. However, several months later Duras' sisters Lursa and B'Etor discovered that Duras had had an illegitimate son, Toral. Though only a boy, Toral was made head of House Duras and inherited his father's claim to leadership of the council. The Arbiter of succession Jean-Luc Picard chose to reject Toral's claim, causing those council members loyal to House Duras to withdraw from the council, plunging the Empire in to civil war. With this, Chancellor Gowron restored Worf's good name and his family honour. Although Toral was techinically its leader, effectively the House was being controlled by Lursa and B'Etor, who were in turn working for the Romulans. Picard was able to prove this and block the Romulan supply convoys aiding the Duras' forces. Support immediately fell away and Gowron's forces stood victorious. The Duras sisters continued, however, to fight a private war against the Empire. Lursa and B'Etor surfaced once again on Deep Space Nine in 2369, selling bilitrium to Bajoran Kohn-Ma terrorist Tahna Los in order to fund their continuing efforts to gain control of the Empire. As they had committed no crime against the Bajorans they were allowed to go about their business and were not apprehended. An attempt on Worf's life in 2370 was suspected to have been the work of the Duras sisters, but this proved not to be the case. In 2371, Lursa and B'Etor began working with El-Aurian scientist Dr. Tolian Soran, stealing trilithium from the Romulas in order to assist him in the development of a trilithium-based stellar inhibitor weapon. They captured Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge and used his VISOR to discover the modulation of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)'s shields. The Enterprise was critically damaged as the Duras' weapons fire passed through its shields, unhindered. However, Lieutenant Commander Data was able to force the activation of the Duras' Bird-of-Prey's's cloaking device. With their shields down, a single photon torpedo was enough to destroy the Duras' ship, killing them in the process. Appearances * ENT: "The Expanse" * TNG: "Sins of the Father" * TNG: "Reunion" * TNG: "Redemption, Part I" * TNG: "Redemption, Part II" * DS9: "Past Prologue" * TNG: "Firstborn" * Star Trek: Generations